


pulsing through my heart.

by corgoptimism



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe - K/DA (League of Legends), F/F, KAISA WILL SHOW UP LATER I PROMISE, but i managed to finish this, chapter 1... of this, my mental health is holding me under a toilet and i want out, thank fuck - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 23:49:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17797118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corgoptimism/pseuds/corgoptimism
Summary: Evelynn didn't spend the last 500 years of her life learning appropriate social skills.Akali didn't spend the last 22 years of her life learning them, either.





	pulsing through my heart.

The first time she meets Evelynn, it is inside Akali’s own dingy apartment, walls stacked high with poster tubes and moving boxes, and every surface littered with dust and fur.

The source of the shedding, a restless, defiant creature of an animal, has always been wary of visitors, and jumps into Akali’s grasp as soon as Evelynn steps through the door. Once over the threshold, she pushes up her glasses, gaze lingering on the distressed lump of fur that Akali’s holding, before raising it to look at Akali’s face -- taking in every disheveled, wind-blown part of it, and smiling.

“May I come in?”

“Sure,” mumbles Akali, with an awkward half-smile in return, because it’s all she can manage when fixed with that stare that burns right through her.

They talk, for a while, about inconsequential things; Akali skirts around the topic of K/DA by developing a sudden interest in climate change trends, and Evelynn seems to play along, for the time it takes her to sit down on the couch and extract the documents from her bag. Akali barely registers the cookie-cutter small talk Evelynn responds with in turn; her nerves are frayed with anticipation, and her ears are buzzing with her own racing thoughts.

Evelynn hands her a black pen, gesturing to the papers, and explaining them in words that all seem to blend together into an incomprehensible mess. When Akali reaches over to take it from her, the old cat twists and squirms out of her arms mid-conversation to climb on his newfound cardboard towers —

— leaving them alone on her moth-eaten couch.

Akali tries not to look at her too much. Evelynn’s image is one she’s familiar with; but they’re to be coworkers, not lovers, even though her entire brand stands on the foundation of inspiring desire. They’re going to be professionals about this, and they, as professionals, will take the industry by storm.

All four of them.

She leans down over her tiny coffee table, just low enough so that Evelynn’s out of her field of vision, and starts working her way through all the spots she needs to fill out.

The contract signing progresses without incident. Akali scrawls her sharp-edged signature onto every line, checks every bubble she scans as applicable, and barely bothers to read the details; she knows that’s a horrible idea, really, but she’s never bothered to do things carefully. Something about how she can feel Evelynn’s gaze burning into the back of her neck -- those lips undoubtedly curled into a smirk -- makes her want to get it over with all the more quickly.

So she rushes, sits up, hands them over at a distance, and waits in silence with her gaze trained at the floor as Evelynn idly rifles through the documents.

After a few minutes of tension that’s thick enough to be cut, she hears Evelynn clear her throat; the sound brings Akali back to reality, and she manages to turn to make eye contact.

“Well, everything appears to be in order. You’re sure about this, then?”

“I — yeah. Never been more sure about anything in my life.”

It’s true. The limelight has always been her call. Now, instead of finding attention, crowds, and fame on dimly-lit street corners in the afternoon, picking rap battles and real fights that sharpen her tongue and bloody her knuckles in equal measure —

— She can be just as free, with them, and have a home in the public eye. Be recognized, and not sanded down into some fragile waif by a team of careful craftsmen, just waiting to force her into uniformity.

She can be herself. And she can force everyone else to know that she is, in fact, the damned best; now, and forever.

Akali can see the future in the back of her mind, and that determination is visible in the tightness of her jaw, and the fire in her eyes.

“Yeah,” she says, again, this time more steady, more certain.

Evelynn gives her a surprisingly genuine smile.

“Then, we’d love to have you.”

Their “negotiations” concluded, paperwork tucked away, they both stand; Akali ungracefully scoots off the dusty cushions, while Evelynn fluidly rises to her feet.

She’s immediately struck by how, at this short distance, Evelynn towers over her.

Akali tries to mask her sudden jolt by transitioning all that energy into a handshake. Those glittering claws curl around her fingers, metal startlingly cold on warm skin.

And, suddenly, Evelynn seems much closer than before.

“Let’s all work towards a mutually beneficial… _partnership_.”

The suggestion cloaking those words is far from hidden; nor was it meant to be, judging by the way Evelynn’s glasses, perched on the tip of her nose as she looks down to meet Akali’s gaze, reveal mischievous golden eyes. In person, they are just as bright, if not moreso; the proximity combined with the piercing stare sends Akali’s heart plummeting to somewhere around her toes, even though she knows it’s all a practiced persona.

She can already feel herself getting tired of this woman.

Evelynn raises her eyebrows, prodding for a response of any sort.

“Akali?”

“Mhm,” she responds, gruffly, firmly shaking Evelynn’s hand as she tries not to let it all show on her face. The laugh bubbling in Evelynn's throat is something she barely makes an effort to hide, and Akali knows her reaction didn’t manage to escape notice; but, mercifully, Eve doesn't comment, and instead makes her way to the door.

One footstep before the outside mat, Evelynn pauses, turns, casting a glance over her shoulder — over that feather boa that must get in the way of everything, Akali notes, with no small amount of irritation at the amount of needless extravagance.

“Oh, if you need help? Call me. I’ve got plenty of transportation ready.”

“Thanks,” she says, and as Evelynn saunters out of her unimpressive little home, closing the door behind her, Akali adds silently, in her thoughts,

_But no thanks._

 

* * *

 

 

The next time Evelynn speaks with Akali, it’s over the phone, with that wiry menace she calls a “house cat” yowling at her in the background. If Evelynn can hear it, staticky and muffled over cell signal; the thing must be devastatingly loud in person.

She winces at the thought.

“You guys allow pets?”

Akali’s voice comes in broken up by the cacophony of noise in her apartment. Evelynn runs a tongue over needle fangs, presses it against the side of her mouth, and decides against giving their newest member a sultry answer.

“Within reason,” she says, flatly.

“Cats fine?”

Evelynn is fully aware of the fact that she absolutely does _not_ want yet another bundle of fur and claws in this house, marking up all their furniture. But, even with her misgivings — she is also fully aware of the fact that the mere presence of a cat would make Kai’sa and Ahri ecstatic.

Animal-lovers, the both of them, and both too soft-hearted for their own good.

Maybe she’s getting a bit soft, too, from all the affection they throw around, because she finds herself agreeing almost immediately.

“I think you’ll find most everyone here adores cats,” she says, and the white lie is worth it to be able to practically hear Akali’s ridiculous grin over the line.

“Ah, yeah, sweet! I — I mean. of course. I’ll try and ensure he’s well-behaved, I —”

more deafening meows cut across her sentence.

“— I, uh, I have to go. I’m sorry.”

The call goes dead with Evelynn still holding the phone to her ear, and she thinks, with a slight frown, that it would be better for Akali to stop trying to talk like someone she’s not. They’re meant to be building on equal standing and respect; having one of them cowering at the prospect of speaking to her casually flies in the face of that goal.

— Or, maybe, it's not because Evelynn scares her. Maybe Akali hates her. Maybe she’s not like this with Kai’sa, or Ahri; really, she almost certainly isn’t.

Well, that’s fine, she supposes. This is a momentary fixation, and nothing more; it’ll be over, either concluded successfully or having fallen apart, in what amounts to the blink of an eye. Just a favor for a dear old friend.

 

* * *

 

Akali’s integration into their daily lives at the house is a loud, messy, and disorganized affair. For the first few days, the place is alive with the sound of various boxes being dragged upstairs, and furniture being arranged and rearranged as they see fit. Evelynn keeps to herself during it all, mostly, but at one point when she emerges from her basement room she’s greeted by the sight of Ahri trying to wrestle the cat into letting her pet him, all while the animal yowls and bites and claws.

“ _Gumiho_ , leave him alone,” she calls, partially because the noise is grating on her -- partially because of some impulse she can’t quite place.

Ahri turns, losing focus on her current task; the moment of surprise that her suddenly split attention creates affords the creature the chance to scramble out of her arms. He arches, hissing and growling, as he bolts down the hall to hide who-knows-where.

“Damn it, Eve! He was just starting to like me. Now I have to start over.” Ahri huffs, tails swishing with annoyance, pouting like a child; Evelynn shakes her head and wonders if she’s being dishonest, or simply delusional.

“He’s old, don’t stress him out. It’s bad for his health.”

“I was just following directions. Akali _said_ to keep him busy while she unpacked. -- Hey, wait, don’t you hate pets? Why do you care?”

“I --”

It dawns upon Evelynn that she’s not really sure about why she cares, so, instead of pondering the question, she says, with an easy shrug, “— I don’t think I could stand to keep living here if our resident disgusting animals got their fur all over our good furniture.”

Ahri fluffs up, indignant, ears laying flat.

“That doesn’t answer my question, Eve.”

Even when they were just acquaintances, centuries ago, the fox could see right through her, knocking down all those walls in a single blow. Evelynn’s reminded of that first meeting, now, as she looks into those clear blue eyes, prompting her in that way she can never resist, to tell the truth.

No one else is around, so she lowers her voice, and confides in her friend.

“...I'm not sure."

Those ears perk up, and Ahri looks surprised, confused; but she doesn’t say anything else in return, and simply regards Evelynn with a blossoming curiosity before walking out of the room.

 

* * *

 

It’s already been a few months since Akali moved in. She’s a fascinating anomaly; quiet, stoic, and somehow adorably airheaded all at once. When she’s not lost in her own thoughts, she’s ablaze with a fire like no other. When she’s not throwing herself headlong into anything and everything, she sharpens her verbal claws on Evelynn; pushing her away when she gets too close, or too suggestive.

Still, despite the defiance, the enforced distance — Evelynn will catch her staring in her direction, sometimes, and flash Akali a dazzling smile when she hurriedly looks away.

Evelynn observes her in silence, too, but she doesn’t mind getting caught.

Neither of them ever talk about it.

 

* * *

 

“Akali called from some dark corner downtown, finally. Eve, go pick her up.”

Ahri’s voice shakes Evelynn out of the trance she’d settled into scrolling back and forth through choreography notes and sketches sent by Kai’sa while sprawled across the leather couch. Her swiping fingertips pause, hovering over the latest slide, the comment she’d been considering immediately chased from her thoughts as her bubble is shattered.

She growls, annoyed at the break in her focus, and hisses,

“‘Go pick her up’? What am I, her _babysitter_?”

“We need her here for lyrics work,” Ahri says, sternly, and punctuates the end of her sentence with a none-too-gentle toss of a familiar set of car keys at Evelynn’s head.

Without looking up, she catches them with one hand.

In the end, Evelynn doesn’t vocally agree to any of it -- but Ahri’s always known her too well, and she has always been so fond of late-night drives. The screech of tires against tarmac, going too-fast in the dark, is the most fulfilling substitute for the thrills she’d rather like to be chasing.

She ghosts into the seat as something half-solid, half-smoke, turns those keys in the ignition, and feels the vehicle come to life beneath her.

Without Ahri or Kai’sa to scold her, she can go as fast as she likes; without regard for safety, with the windows down so the full-force wind can blast her hair back, and burn her eyes, Evelynn vents all the unfamiliar things rising in her chest by pressing the gas pedal all the way to the floor. She maintains that breakneck speed until she’s forced to slow when she approaches city streets; troublesome as it is, she has an image to maintain, for the sake of them all.

Still, she arrives in record time.

The garage where she’s meant to meet Akali stinks of oil and exhaust, and is nearly-empty; she pulls into a space and waits there, reclining in the driver’s seat until she sees Akali sprinting down the ramp towards her.

Evelynn opens the door and slides from her spot to lean against the side of the car, instead, one leg braced against cool metal to keep her balance.

Akali is a whirlwind as she darts around the back of the car to meet her chauffeur, and arrives breathless, stopping to steady herself. She’s roughed-up, knuckles bruised, hair even more wild and windswept than usual; but her eyes are alive with energy, and there’s a coiled-up intensity in all her motions that speaks to how much she needed this. To cut loose, and run wild; no strings attached, somewhere where no one will know her name or her reputation. To be completely, unabashedly, herself.

She rips the stitched-together mask off her face and gives Eve a triumphant grin — one that falls almost instantly when she fully absorbs who, exactly, is here to greet her.

“Oh. it’s you.”

“It’s me,” Evelynn replies, in that signature low purr.

She beckons Akali over with the crook of a finger, and a smile.

 

* * *

 

Akali’s never rewarded for her participation in these little performances with anything more than a chaste kiss on the cheek, or a wink.

It all snugly fits into the category of torture.

Every time, Evelynn pulls back too fast, their contact, too short. Leaving her wanting more -- leaving her hoping that someday, sometime, she’ll finally be fully acknowledged. It’s what Evelynn does best, of course, with all of them, and Akali is hard-pressed to say she doesn’t enjoy it; but there’s always that small hope, purposefully nurtured with every touch, that holds the tantalizing prospect of something real behind it all. Not just flirtatiousness, but some connection --

\-- But she knows, already, even as she closes the gap between them, that Evelynn would never. Not with her; not with a city girl they picked up off the street because of some viral video. So she may as well enjoy what she can, when she can.

(Or, maybe, by obeying as she does, she’s just giving in to that feeble hope again.)

Evelynn, as always, is a tease; as soon as they’re close enough, there’s an arm wrapped about her waist and cold, glimmering claw tips at her chin, tilting her gaze upwards to stare into luminous gold. Akali’s adjusted to this song and dance, by now; Evelynn hints, suggests, and Akali denies, spits a curse, and pulls away.

She won't make herself vulnerable; she won't tell the truth. She's being toyed with, and there's nothing else to it.

Evelynn leans in so that their noses touch, and Akali can feel her breath over her lips; she is there, but only just, hovering above, daring Akali to try and bridge the gap, so that she can pull away with that trademark smirk.

“I’m sure you were dazzling,” she coos, and Akali tries to hide the electric shiver that the words send through her. That epithet, ‘Siren’, rarely seems more appropriate than moments like these; that voice is sweet as honey, full-bodied as wine. It has a way of pulling one in and keeping them there, commanding every part of their attention in a single breath.

In just a sentence, just the flashing of elongated canines, Akali is wound around her finger. She tries to avert her eyes, but Evelynn holds her still without effort; she is forced, then, to maintain their little staring contest.

So she scoffs, instead of looking away. “Having fun, Evelynn?”

“Without question.” That smile grows wider as Akali’s expression deepens into a scowl.

“Cool, fine, great. I wanna get outta here. You never fuckin’ deliver on this whole act, anyways, so you’re just wasting my damn time.”

She tries to wiggle away after the outburst, suddenly overly conscious of herself, but Evelynn pulls her closer; Akali can feel the warmth of her skin contrasting with the cool outer air, and though the backdrop to their charade is the low rumble of engines and car horns outside, that cacophony melts into nothingness as Evelynn becomes her only focus.

She shuts her eyes in silence, waiting for a return snipe.

“Do you _want_ me to ‘deliver’?”

It’s said with an uncharacteristic degree of straightforwardness. Not a purr, nor a groan, but a flat question; Akali’s eyes open in surprise, and she sees Evelynn searching her gaze, her face, brows furrowed in concentration.

It’s a trick, her gut says. She just wants you to think she means it -- that she cares.  
That she’d ever bother with you.

But her heart, as always, jumps before her head.

Akali grumbles, frustrated, feeling all that pent-up energy from the fight and her arousal combine into one poorly-contained entity, and brings her arms up to hold Evelynn’s shoulders in a grip nothing short of bruising. “You can’t tease me every waking moment, and then expect me to --” Akali’s voice cracks, slightly, and then, she regains her composure enough to continue, “-- Okay, look. if you’re gonna act like you wanna fuck, then just fuck me, “Siren”. otherwise, feel free to _fuck off._ ”

The world freezes, for a moment, between them both.

Akali waits for a response -- affirmation, denial, _anything_ \-- with an exhale stuck in her throat.

Then, the blinding, inhuman speed with which Evelynn moves in the second after catches Akali completely off guard, and time begins moving again.

She’s turned, tugged, then slammed against the front grate of the car, knocking the breath out of her lungs, and a creeping hand at her throat bends her back over the hood; Evelynn looms above, digging those talons into her skin with a smile that’s all teeth, eyes alight with hunger.

The shadows around them both grow deeper, corporeal. Akali feels them twine about her limbs and anchor her in place; she struggles against their pull, their form, but they do not give. Every movement, every attempt at escape prompts the grip about her throat to tighten, until her breath is halted and the buzzing of her ears drowns out every other sound.

Akali stills, completely, and closes her eyes. As she relaxes, Evelynn’s hold on her neck mercifully loosens, and she heaves a shaky sigh, shudders, the smallest of whines escaping her.

At the sound, that multi-colored cat’s gaze above grows wider, that smile, sharper; when Akali finally coaxes her eyes back open, she can see the points of fangs, and she thinks, while she is held there by shade and gold, that it was stupid to ever believe Evelynn to be only human.

In hindsight, her demeanor alone is a magic all its own.

Evelynn, above, regards her as if she is a piece of meat; sizing her up with claws that scrape up her hip, dragging under her tank top, taking in every bit of her. The attention, laser-focused, _ravenous_ , sends a thrill down her spine; Akali can’t help but give voice to another, louder whine through her nose, and Evelynn laughs openly at her.

“So _quiet_. Is that all it takes, then? A hand at your throat, and restraints on your limbs?”

“That’s _not_ —” She stops talking when the grip around her neck tightens once more; a warning against speaking uninvited, one that she fully understands.

And if it were someone else, Akali might test their limits, their resolve; but she knows Evelynn will stay true to that unspoken promise of punishment, and she knows, above all, that she’s wanted this for _so goddamn long_.

So, she gives herself over to Evelynn’s will, for now; in this moment, when this tension stretched taut for weeks and months finally bubbles to the surface in a way neither of them can ignore, she’ll hold the vulgarities, the insults, the dismissal.

Akali curls her hands into fists, and allows Evelynn to take ‘center stage’.

The fire in her eyes, glinting bright in the flickering garage lamps, says _do your worst._

But Evelynn does not act. She holds her there, eyes narrowed, runs a tongue over dry lips; but she refuses to finally move and breach that last barrier between them. Akali opens her mouth, questioning -- but remembers she is not to speak, and the words stop on her tongue.

She looks foolish, gulping air and saying nothing. In the absence of her usual defiance, that presence is almost oppressive; it prompts her to stay in line -- _to remember her place_ , is how Eve would probably put it.

The hand at her throat shifts, slightly. With the feather-light brush of a thumb over Akali’s jawline, Evelynn murmurs, “All this time, that attitude has been on display to _hide_ from me… Poor thing, you’ve been starving yourself.”

“Then would you _just--_ ”

“ -- Ah-ah. Tell me what you’ve been thinking about -- ask me for it. Nicely. I want to hear it in _your_ words.”

Akali swallows, thickly, and feels her throat bob, pressing uncomfortably against Evelynn’s palm. She gathers herself to speak, and turns her head to the side, shifting her gaze away as much as she’s able; but she can still see Evelynn from the corner of her eye, watching, waiting.

“I want you to fuck me, Eve,” Akali begins, rough, hesitant, through gritted teeth, and the look of pitying disapproval Evelynn gives her makes her breath freeze in her lungs. That satisfaction, an end to all of this buildup, is _right there_ ; a hair’s breadth from her fingertips, and she might have just ruined it all.

“Manners, pet.”

“I -- I’m sorry --”

“Now, now, don’t fret -- I’ll give you another chance,” Evelynn reassures her in a croon, “but, ah, _historically_ \-- I am not a patient woman.”

Akali flinches. She takes a breath of stale, exhaust-tainted underground air, and feels her throat burn with the pollution; but she doesn’t care, at this point. The locale is filthy, ceiling dripping, their voices bouncing off so much empty space, but she tears herself away from the dark around them and re-focuses on Evelynn, and only Evelynn.

Exactly as she wants.

“You have my undivided attention, love,” Evelynn purrs, entirely conscious of the fact that the drop in pitch is enough to make the woman beneath her squirm, and Akali wets her lips ineffectually as she says it; they’re still cracked, dry, and cold when she opens her mouth again, and tries to use her second chance wisely.

“I -- please,” she mumbles, uncertain, halting. Her tongue is sandpaper, sticking to her teeth; her body is thrumming with a tingling energy, building to a feverish intensity. Her skin is too hot, her clothes, too tight; Akali burns with need, and still, Evelynn is silent and expectant, evidently unsatisfied with the results.

“Louder. Let me hear you _beg_.”

“Please, Evelynn, I want -- I need you to, I’ve needed you to --” stumbling, stopping, she gasps for a breath, and finishes, softly, “ -- Please, God, touch me. _Please_ \--”

Like that, like lightning, Evelynn is finally, _finally_ upon her.

The last of Akali’s plea is abruptly silenced as Evelynn presses against her in a bruising kiss, with enough force to make their teeth clack together. The hand at her neck snakes back to tangle clawed fingers in that wild ponytail, and Akali feels fangs scraping, tugging against her bottom lip as Evelynn subdues her with an insistent tongue. She can’t breathe, can’t see anything but those eyes, and she is scrambles for a grip against sure bonds, fingernails scraping both cool metal and cool shadow.

Just when Akali thinks she’s perhaps asked for too much; that maybe, _possibly_ , it was a stupid idea to egg on a woman in a group comprised primarily of supernatural entities, Evelynn releases her, and she inhales greedily, as if she were coming back from almost being drowned.

Sharply and without warning, her head is then yanked back, her scalp burning from the grip on her hair. Evelynn seamlessly transitions from Akali’s mouth to her collarbone, lavishing licks and kisses across the sensitive skin there. When she dusts the tips of her fangs just-above her neck, Akali grits her teeth; when Evelynn seems to notice the reaction and bites down, hard, she jerks, shouting, choking on her own breath. The sudden piercing pain leaves her seeing stars, intensifying her already heavy breathing, and so Akali barely notices the claws snaking up her inner thigh until Evelynn palms her, roughly, through her leggings, sucking at the bite mark in the same moment. Akali holds the shout back, transforms it into a low growl as she presses her tongue against the back of her teeth and writhes, desperate for more pressure.

Evelynn drags claws down and then back up her leg; those lips smear freshly welling crimson across the crook of Akali’s neck as she hums into her skin, soft vibrations and touches contrasting starkly with the throbbing from the wound.

Akali winces away from her, then, and it seems to pull Evelynn back from the brink of wherever she’d gone; through blurred vision, akali can see her visibly relax, her shoulders falling, and the shadows bleeding from her edges retreat, once again giving leaving her corporeal, solid.

Leaving her more _human_.

“I -- I didn’t -- are you okay?”

Akali’s still shivering, slightly, all too soon aware of how it hurts in the cold air; her eyes, when she looks up, are glistening with tears, red, puffy.

She manages a weak smile. “Yeah. Yeah, i’m okay.”

Evelynn keeps pulling back, quiet, subdued, and Akali groans with barely-contained frustration. “Ugh, come on, you didn’t bite me that hard, Eve.”

There’s no response.

“If you really feel bad, you can just --” she heaves a shuddering sigh, “-- you can just finish what you started.”

Something clicks in Evelynn's expression; something familiar that spreads over her, bit by bit, and when its fully present it takes her only a moment after to return to normalcy, to fully put on the mask again. It’s fascinating, how she can transform herself almost immediately; Akali watches her change, gradually, until there's no worry left on her face. Even after that, though -- the smirk seems a bit forced, now, and her eyes are nowhere near as alive as before; but Evelynn comes back, all the same, with her signature attitude almost intact -- as if that moment of vulnerability had never happened, and Akali had simply imagined it all.

“Only if you say please.”

“Haven’t I said it enough?”

Evelynn yanks those golden claw tips off with her teeth, scattering them on the hood of the car, and leans back in, until they are pressed together once more.

She slips her hand under the loose waistband of Akali’s leggings easily, and those probing fingers find wet heat in an instant; in contrast to the chill around them both, Akali is molten, dripping, and she twitches as Evelynn draws a nail over her slit, presses, and goes completely still.

“You’ll say it again. As many times as I tell you to.”

Akali acquiesces.

“...Pl—“

She doesn’t even get through the word before Evelynn plunges two fingers inside her in a rough thrust, and she chokes on the last of her voice; the sudden intrusion stings, faintly, but Akali’s more consumed by the feeling of finally, _finally_ being brought to her peak.

Evelynn holds her gaze, unblinking, the hand at her throat moving to dig into Akali’s back with sharp claws, then drag the blunt sides across to soothe the pain. Her breathing is heavier, too; somewhere, in all of this, those glasses had fallen off, and Akali can see that her pupils are blown wide, like hers, that glowing off-white expanding out until the gold is only a thin ring.

And then, Akali sees nothing.

As Evelynn’s fingers curl, firmly, against her inner wall, all the intensity builds until she is floating in some dark space, and Evelynn is holding her in her arms, her shadows, all of herself.

It’s all she’s aware of, outside of herself, as she careens off the edge of a cliff, Evelynn’s name on her lips, every muscle in freefall.

Akali sinks into her embrace as she comes down, sweating, panting, and the cool metal of the car hood is welcome against her overheated forearms. Evelynn murmurs something that she can’t hear, and, after a moment, begins moving away; Akali hisses when her fingers emerge from her pants, sticky, leaving a cold trail on her stomach before they’re gone entirely.

If this pair of underwear wasn’t ruined before, it probably is now.

It takes her a few minutes to catch her breath. When she can finally look up, bleary-eyed, she sees Evelynn cleaning her fingers with long, slow licks, staring straight down at her; when she notices Akali watching, she places one fully into her mouth, and sucks on it from around a smirk.

“Fuck,” Akali says, half-gasping the curse, leaning her head back onto the hood and closing her eyes again.

It’s the last thing that’s said between them that night.

Evelynn, meticulously, helps her look presentable enough before she gets in the car, but she doesn’t offer conversation; Akali almost tries to try and figure out what just happened between them, but gets the overwhelming feeling that Evelynn doesn’t want to discuss it.

She crawls in without a word, and curls into herself in the seat.

They buckle their seatbelts, and Evelynn pulls out of the garage and into the glittering night time city; Akali considers calling Ahri back to let her know that they didn’t get lost, or get killed, or something -- but when she looks over to the driver’s seat, Evelynn is laser-focused on the road, not even giving her so much as a sideways glance.

She decides against it.

The ride back is silent, well over the speed limit on an empty road where no one can see them, and Akali’s fingers anxiously curl into the leather cushion beneath her when the velocity starts to press her back against her seat.

 

* * *

 

“You’re late,” Ahri points out, disapprovingly, when she meets them both at the door. Akali’s pulled her sweater around her tightly to cover that spot on her neck, and she’s silently grateful when Evelynn speaks up to cover for them both.

“Traffic was terrible.”

Ahri arches an eyebrow at this; it’s clear that she doesn’t believe either of them for a second, but she sighs, and steps out of the doorway anyways.

“Whatever. When you’ve taken your shoes and coats off, I’ve got some stuff for you, Akali —“

“— Ah, um.” Akali’s voice is hoarse, raw from shouting, and the wet spot in her underwear is distractingly cold and sticky in the outdoor air. “Can I — Can I take a shower first? I’m pretty worn out.”

She shows Ahri her bruised knuckles to explain why -- not a full lie, but not the whole truth -- and the fox’s eyes widen, before she sighs, disappointed, in same way way that a teacher dealing with an unruly student might be.

(Akali would know. She’s been on the receiving end of that tone too many times to count.)

“— Fine. When you get out, we’re going to have a talk about that,” Ahri says, casting a pointed glance at her hands.

“Yeah, I know,” is all Akali can muster, before rushing off to her bathroom without so much as looking back. Ahri watches her go, rolls her eyes, then turns back and expects to see Evelynn there, the words ‘what happened?’ rising to her tongue, because, really, a simple pickup doesn’t take _that_ long --

\-- But she’s gone, too, leaving nothing but the lingering scent of her perfume.

Overtired, exasperated, and making fifteen different mental notes at once, Ahri closes the door on nothing.

 

**Author's Note:**

> this is fukt. like i just need it Out of my docs. take it. take All of This. there will be chapter updates in the vague future.  
> thanks to xekstrin for beta reading even as i was having a Terrible night. u made my night. 
> 
> "why didnt ahri go to pick akali up" she cant drive. shes gay. only demonic gays can drive. known fact


End file.
